Yeast Harvesting And Washing
I am going to go over how I harvest and wash yeast taken from the primary.
You will need several Mason jars with lids. I found a very large Mason
jar (it looks like it holds twice as much as the regular ones). You
can use any large glass jar and lid (like a Mayo jar). Put about 2 pints
of distilled water on to boil. Start by sanitizing the large jar and
two of the regular ones and their lids. When the water has boiled for
10 minutes remove from heat and cool in a ice bath. Be careful not
to let anything fall into and contaminate the water. I usually put
some aluminum foil over the pan to keep anything from falling into it.
Ok, the reason for the large jar is that you will have a lot of yeast and
trub in the first run. Fill the large jar half way with the contents
of the primary after you have racked you beer off. Pour about 2 cups
of the cooled water into the jar, put a sanitized lid on it and shake a couple
of times. I then open the top slightly to let any air out. Set
aside until you see three different layers form in the jar. This takes
about 20-30 minutes to settle out. The first layer is a water layer, the middle
(light colored) layer (which is the yeast), and the last layer which
is junk like hops and trub. We want the middle or yeast layer. To get
this, take another sanitized jar and in one hand and the other jar in the
other and start to pour out the contents into your sink until the middle
layer starts to come out. Then let contents flow into the jar until
the last layer starts to enter the jar and then stop pouring. Don't
worry if you get some of the first or last layer as you will repeat this
process a couple of more times. Fill the jar up with the distilled water
and repeat the process again. This time you should be able to see the
layers better. Most times I only have to do the process three times
but depending on the yeast and amount of junk, I have had to do it up to
four times. You will end up with a small amount of light colored yeast
(about 1/4 to 1/2 inch) on the bottom of a jar and enough water to fill to
the top. Once you have this stop and label the jar with the date and
type of yeast. Put in the frig for later use. When you are ready
to use the yeast, make a starter to make sure the yeast is alive and healthy.
I have re-used yeast that has been stored like this for up to a year.
By the way, if you are unsure what a (starter) is, see my link on how to
make a starter.
This process sounds complicated but it is really not hard to do it just
takes some time.